I was in the loft yesterday looking for something in one of the boxes from when we cleared my Family home a few years ago and found another box I'd forgotten about in the chaos that was my Mothers passing etc. The Stationary engine I remember from early childhood, it was a favourite toy, and was also something at my mothers house my boys wanted to 'see' when we visited. I remember it was secondhand when Father brought it home, possibly acquired from a colleague at work so is probably @60yrs old. The others however I only have very vague memories of. I think they may have been gifted to us by a family up the road from Mother and Father when I was away at college. They were moving away their own children having moved out. My father passed away very shortly after that and they've been in the box ever since, @40yrs. I expect I added the Stationary engine to the box when I moved it to my own home. Now as you'd expect, a find of such a nature couldn't be ignored and resulted in a couple of hours in the garage with some 3 in 1 oil and a bottle of Meths. And yes, we had all of them in steam, which was fantastic, despite having to swap and change a few bits from one to another like the only working safety valve between them. The Traction engine was running round the garage floor with me steering in a slightly uncontrolled manor but was great. The Lorry is missing a drive band but ran well as a stationary 'exhibit. The really nice thing was Lady Nashers enthusiasm for getting them going, and she already has plans for me to take them into school for a demonstration. Unfortunately I know the find is going to cost me a fortune. I've already ordered some drive bands, safer gel fuel, and sets of sealing washers etc, but have of course also realised there are other models in the range, and the Traction engine really should have a trailer. Oh, and of course I'll make my own custom body for the spare lorry Chassis.
Nice collection I have the very same stationary engine. I used to show it to my girls when they were young. They'd sit waiting in anticipation and be amazed when it would suddenly burst into life after coaxing it with water fire and methylated spirits. Still have it somewhere, probably in a box in the loft!
My late Fathers collection is at my Mothers on display, he was a little bit of a collector of what I’ll describe as crap but he liked to mess about with them alongside his Meccano tat. I’m fairly sure there is also a putput somewhere in amongst the boxes.
Rather like Meccano, Mamod encouraged curiosity, creativity and imagination out of a youngster at a practical level, as well as perhaps providing inspiration to those gifted to pursue a technical career in later life. The main point being that these "toys" were engaging and immersive but in a much more positive sense than the endless hours many children currently spend welded to their mobile phones, with no tangible achievement for the time spent. A sad indictment of modern life.
You’re right it amazed me a kid and it amazed my children however a bit like with flying a kite it’s all about the anticipation and once it’s up there doing its thing, that’s it, and the excitement and anticipation soon fades I don’t see this as a sad indictment to modern life, accessing the internet on your mobile device offers endless possibilities for as long as you want, albeit with some careful filtering I know which I’d sooner prefer
Yay! I had the tractor as an Xmas present following the arrival of the stationary one on the red platform; which my old man probably wanted himself so had to buy it for me! So great waiting for the steam to build and suddenly....... I bet the kids at your wife's school will be amazed, and how brilliant of her to want to share with her class(es). I don't know how much "steam engine tech" is mentioned in most kids lives, but I have a feeling it's about zero. After an hour rebuilding a couple of fence panels, a bit of digging and some bush shapinging/murdering? in the ball numbing freeze outside, this post has really made me smile.
True, it is no doubt ideal for kids with a mechanical/ engineering bent, but the internet is also fantastic for widening everyone's eyes to the wider world. Horses for courses ol' chap!
I'm not saying the Internet is not a great resource for education and enlightenment, but a lot of the time it's serves as as a smorgasbord for social media narcissism, misinformation, and unsubstantiated and poorly researched statements of 'fact', none of which adds anything positive to a young person's development. We all use content derived from the Internet, be it as a source for education or entertainment but it's fair to say a lot of the younger generation's views and outlook are shaped by what they see and read on social media, a lot of which is far from accurate or beneficial to them.
I got my first Mamod engine about 8 or 9 years old, loved it but it ran on the meths blocks to start so took about 3 burns to get it up to steam, then did about 2 laps of the 3-4m track. I have the carriages too but they are packed away somewhere. I still have it, plus the stationery engine and steam roller on display in my workshop - I had the white car too but no idea what happened to that one That lorry looks ace though, not one I have seen in person.
Thanks all Certainly at her school that sort of thing is very much alive. Innovation and technical subjects are encouraged as It's the pre-cursor to the links with companies in the senior school who use the school as a feeder for university sponsorship etc. My eldest lad when he was there did a project with Lockheed Martin after his GCSEs for example. She's currently doing a topic with her Year 4 in the junior school about 'Invention', and Stephenson etc have been discussed, so finding the box couldn't have come at a better time. The reason I was in the loft in the first place was finding an old Rotary Dial phone I know is in one of the boxes, as we're putting together a timeline of phones as another line of conversation for the topic. I often wonder if one or two of us work for the school the amount I get involved with stuff like this, building production sets etc.
All true, and yet when I cast my mind back, perhaps the Sun & The Daily Mail were a source for education or entertainment. It's fair to say a lot of my generation's views and outlook were once shaped by what they saw and read in those newspapers, a lot of which was -and still is- far from accurate or beneficial to anyone. The more things change the more they seem the same...
Couldn't help but spy the Thunderbird models as well. There is an impressive model of Thunderbird 3 outside Humberside airport that is probably over 30ft tall. It's owned by Richard Lake who owns/owned Eastern airways as well as being a majority stakeholder of the airport. He's a bit of an eccentric it is fair to say, judging by his eclectic collection that few people get to see (most of which is in one of the hangars). I wished for one of those Captain Scarlet cars as a child. Lord knows what an original "Dinky" pristine boxed one is worth now. I've seen some selling for over £250.00
many many a man learnt all about bolts, pulleys and differentials from mecanno and lego so i firmly believe in passing it on, spent small fortune on lego and Meccano for my nephew although he seems to prefer playing Roblox on his iPhone more
See? Meths can be good! I remember the smell and the blue flame, only had the stand alone engine…but had loads of Meccano to go with it. Most kids would not have a clue these days.
Had a very similar stationary engine, was my father's before me, he gave it to me when I was somewhere around 7-8. Had it up until divorce, probably still in the loft of my ex-wife's house (former marital home).
That brings back memories.I had one and let it run dry. The end cap had to be re-soldered to stop it leaking.
I had the stationery Meccano engine. The smell of meths, the care needed not to go up in a ball of flames as the burner was primed and inserted under boiler, then spin the fly wheel and off she went. No idea where mine has gone, but maybe it's time to "relight the fire".
How much were these years ago? Just looked at the website and some of the current prices are eye-watering.
